1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to curing rims for tires and, more particularly, to tubeless curing rim apparatus adapted to accomodate a plurality of bead-to-bead spacings for tires.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Retreading a tire typically involves placing an inflatable rubber tube within the tire, covering the tube with a flap and mounting the tire on a curing rim before inserting the tire into a mold or "matrix". The tire is then inflated to a relatively high pressure and cured within the matrix to shape the rubber and bind it to the tire body. Insertion of the innertube and flap and mounting the tire on a fixed rim is a laborious task which is time consuming and expensive. Additionally, a rim with separate loose spacers must be provided for tires being retreaded because the required bead-to-bead spacing for tires of the same size are different.
With the advent of tubeless tires for large vehicles such as trucks and earth moving equipment, the continued necessity of utilizing a tube within the tire in order to inflate the tire is particularly expensive and time consuming. Additionally, tubes and flaps are becoming scarce. Thus, there has long been a need for a practical curing rim for tire retreading processes which would permit the tire to be inflated without a tube and which accomodates a plurality of bead spacings, eliminating the necessity for maintaining and handling large varieties of rim spacers and providing a means of obtaining the initial seal directly after the mold is closed when the beads of the tire are closest together. The present invention satisfies that need.